Uzumaki Eriko
by shinigami-shane
Summary: Naruto is on his way home from a solo mission and comes upon a truly horrific scene, so decides to put a stop to it. In the process he saves a baby girl, massacres a town and is forced to become a missing-nin. This is the story of Uzumaki Eriko.
1. Uzumaki Eriko

Naruto was finally on his way home to see his girlfriend, Hinata, after a royal clusterfuck of a mission, equalled only by his first 'proper' mission to The Land of Wave. It was getting late in the day when he came upon a town. He thought to himself, ' _Finally! I can have something to eat that I didn't have to cook for myself,_ ' and increased his pace slightly. He was vastly disappointed to find that, to his horror, that there was no one at the tavern, which prompted him to enter sage mode in order to prepare for whatever caused the tavern to be empty at a time which it should have been packed.

In sage mode, Naruto sensed a mass of people present in some kind of shrine that was at the centre of the village. Naruto said to himself, "Well, I might as well check out what's going on, after all, there's really nothing much I can do _here_ until they get back anyway." He then stood up from the seat by the bar that he had taken upon entering the tavern and went to the shrine. As he got closer the mass of energy signatures separated into multiple individual signatures, telling him that, in all likelihood, there were two men standing over a newborn at the front of the room. He kicked the door open, mildly concerned as he had heard a rumour going around the nearby towns that there were some pretty weird beliefs held by the villagers in this town.

When he was inside he saw a man wearing blue hakama and a white kosode under a black kimono at standing behind an altar at the front of the shrine. He was clearly the shrine's kannushi. The kannushi, holding a blessed dagger above his head demanded, "Who art thou that darest delaye this ceremony?" lowering his dagger.

"What 'ceremony' would that be, exactly? Naruto demanded in return.

"This is a ceremony to cleanse this child of the daemons infecting her soul," The man raised his dagger back again and started to stab down with it.

Naruto was having none of that though, so quickly unsealed one of his Takigakure-style kunai that had a hikazeshin seal inscribed upon the blade from his modified sage cloak and threw it at the kannushi's blade arm. It tore right through it with ease as Naruto had streamed his wind chakra through the blade before throwing i. he teleported to the kunai behind the priest, who was stunned that anyone would have the nerve to attack _him_ , the one that had been leading the town's mayor around by the nose for years. He said, "How _dare_ you, you insolent cur! I'll have your head for this," as he tried to stop the blood with the shōsen jutsu.

Naruto thought, ' _He's a medical ninja?_ ' before glancing at the kid on the altar, which was in front of the honden in the haiden. Naruto glanced at the baby and, seeing its eyes, thought, ' _It's eyes…it's either related to the Hyūga somehow, which is unlikely…_ ' knowing the customs of his girlfriend's clan, ' _…or it is blind. Either way, there's no way that she is possessed by any kind of demon._ ' He glared at the 'kannushi' and said, "You're a medical ninja. How could you not notice that she's…" then he saw the smirk on the man's face and put the pieces together. He turned from the priest to the townsfolk. "Townspeople. You don't know me, but I'm a ninja from Konohagakure and am close to some of the greatest healers in history. As such I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt, that this baby…" Naruto said, holding it up so that they could all see her. "…is possessed by no demon. She is merely blind." Naruto continued, judging the baby's gender by the pink rug that it was wrapped in.

The priest, who had stopped the bleeding, to an acceptable level, stood up behind Naruto and, literally, stabbed him in the back. Luckily for the blonde he was wearing the Kumogakure style flak vest that Killer Bee had given him after the war. Naruto knelt to the ground, pretending that the strike had been successful as the priest looked at the blade and saw the blood on it, along with the blood that was running down Naruto's back. The priest said, "People. You know me and all I've done for you over the years," quelling the murmurs that had started after Naruto's announcement.

One of the villagers said, "Yeah! Kannushi Takuda has _never_ led us wrong before," a cry that was taken up by all of the villagers. Naruto's face was covered in grief at what he was about to do. The priest took up his knife one more time and brought it down on the defenceless child. Naruto unsealed another kunai, this one from the other side of his coat, and threw it at the priest's other hand, severing _it_ from its arm from the elbow down before throwing another at the man standing next to the kannushi, the girl's father, because of the fanatical look in his eyes.

Naruto quickly stood up and caught both the arm and the knife before it could reach the baby. He picked the baby up and asked, "Is there any one of you here that will let the two of us leave here, free and clear?" the townsfolk charged at him. Naruto sighed and said, "I thought not," And put the baby girl down before drawing two of his Hikazeshin marked kunai, flashing from one to the other, slaughtering the entire town. Once he was done, he took the baby from the shrine and left the town.

On his way out though, he saw a clothes store and said to himself, "Well, it May go against my taste, robbing a guy I killed, but these clothes are _way_ too distinctive." He then went into the store placed the baby on the front counter before rummaging through the clothes before changing into some close-fit brown pants tied off with a brown leather belt, a green tunic, darker brown leather boots and a green, hardened leather, vest. There were also some limited weapons available in the store, so he took a pyramid bow, along with a full quiver of arrows and a kunai pouch. Before he left the store he took up the baby from the counter and put her in the satchel that he took at the same time as the kunai pouch before emptying the register of all of its cash. He tossed his old clothes into the shrine before leaving the town, his forehead protector securing the as yet nameless baby in his satchel.

XXXXX

When Naruto didn't return from his mission, Tsunade sent out an investigative team to find out what, it anything, had happened. They returned three days later. The team leader said, "Hokage-sama."

"Yes?"

"We have some bad news to report I'm afraid."

"Naruto's not…"

"From what we can gather, that does not seem to be the case." Tsunade sighed in relief. "However…" the leader said, unsure how he should continue, knowing how close the Hokage was with Naruto.

"However _what_?" Tsunade demanded, glaring at the team leader, promising pain if he didn't continue, pronto.

"However, the same cannot be said of the townsfolk of Magentosa."

"What do you mean?"

"It would appear that Uzumaki Naruto massacred the entire town while they were in attendance of some rite at the towns shrine."

"That's not…Naruto wouldn't…"

"I'm afraid that it is not only possible, but entirely true." The team leader looked to one of his subordinates and said, "Peacock…" prompting one of his subordinates to step forward. The ANBU was wearing a mask that was decorated with a peacock tail extending up and away from the bridge of its nose. He placed Naruto's clothes and the kunai that he left at the scene on the Hokage's desk.

Tsunade said, "That's…" her face losing all of its colour as her eyes widened and her stomach dropped.

"It is my judgement that Uzumaki Naruto departed from his operational directive due to some event that he found to be abhorrent and cruel. So much so that it warranted the wholesale slaughter of the townsfolk. However, due to Magentosa being outside of The Land of Fire's borders, returning here would in all likelihood result in a political nightmare, possibly eventuating in war against an alliance of Taki, Kusa, Ame, Hoshi and the military of Tori, despite their recent cooperation due in large part to Naruto himself. Given that, even though it is in the latter stages of recovery, we still lost a lot of our shinobi in the Fourth Ninja War, our chances of emerging victorious against such odds are…well, negligible at best. Disappearing would eliminate any possibility of such a thing eventuating. That being the case, I decided that it would be prudent to return here before taking any further action."

"You're dismissed," Tsunade said, getting up, out of her chair and looking out her window as a tear ran down her right cheek as she gripped her haori tightly in her right hand, biting her bottom lip to prevent her emotions from getting the better of her. Tsunade called out, "Get Sakura and Hinata to drop whatever they are doing and get here _now_ ," to her secretary.

The secretary called out, "Hai!" and scurried off. She had never heard the Hokage use a tone mixed with an equal mix of grief and anger before and was rightfully scared at what may happen if she _didn't_ do what she was told. She raced off to the hospital where she felt the chakra of both Hinata and Sakura leaving.

XXXXX

As Sakura and Hinata walked along the path that lead to Ichiraku Ramen, Sakura was saying, "So, how long have you suspected?"

"Not very long. I was missed it last month, and, given our work, I figured that it would be better to check than go on missions not knowing."

"Well, that's true enough, but you know that we kunoichi have a bunch of jutsu that can be used to prevent…" That was when Tsunade's secretary dropped down to the path in front of them and Sakura said, "Amara?"

"Yeah," Sakura's friend said. "Tsunade-sama wants to see the both of you, pronto."

"Alright, what does she want?" Sakura asked, never having been called to the Hokage's office at the same time as Hinata before.

"That's…probably better for her to tell you," Amara hesitantly said, unsure if the matter should be kept on a need to know basis.

"Alright," Sakura said, now getting anxious because the only time that she had never told her what she wanted to know, it was because she had been eavesdropping on a meeting that she _really_ shouldn't have been."

Sakura sighed and said, "Alright Amara," following behind Amara as she walked back to the Hokage's office rather than taking back to the rooftops, not wanting to get to the Hokage's office for as long as she could possibly avoid it, knowing how close the two women with her were with the subject concerned.

Walking, it took ten minutes to reach the Hokage Tower Amara led them slowly through the tower's levels, which was starting to annoy Sakura, who's right eye's twitching was getting more and more pronounced. Hinata said, "Calm down Sakura. We're almost there."

Sakura let out a calming sigh and said, "Yeah, you're right," as they reached the door to the waiting room outside Tsunade's office.

Amara went up to the door and knocked, calling out, "Tsunade-sama, they're here."

Tsunade said, "Let them through," her voice laden with regret.

When Sakura and Hinata were in her office, Tsunade said, "Alright, you two, take a seat, you'll need it."

"Alright, why? What is it?" Hinata asked.

Tsunade sighed and said, "It's about Naruto."

The two girls felt their stomachs drop and a feeling of dread rise up within them. Feeling their legs start to weaken, they hurriedly moved to the side of the room and pulled a pair of chairs over so that they were facing Tsunade over her desk. Sakura asked, "So, what's the idiot done this time?"

Hinata said, "Sakura- _san_ , you are talking about my boyfriend."

"Not for much longer though I should think," Sakura said, grinning as she nudged Hinata in her side. Hinata blushed as Sakura continued on to say, "I never thought that all of us that you would be the one participating in a shotgun wedding."

Tsunade said, "A…" and sighed, a dark look crossing her face.

"What is the problem Tsunade-sama?" Hinata asked, the dread making its presence known again.

"Naruto…has abandoned Konoha."

"He's…but surely not!"

"I'm afraid so."

"But why?"

" _That_ , I can't know for certain."

"For certain?" Hinata asked, seizing upon the only bit of the news that held out any hope for what she was being told being a lie.

Tsunade sighed and said, "I'll start with what I _do_ know, if that's alright." Hinata and Sakura numbly nodded. "Okay then. As you know, he was late in coming back from his latest mission." Hinata and Sakura nodded. "Given the…abnormality of it, I sent a tracker team after him to see what had happened. What they found was…well…unexpected, to say the least."

"What was it?" Sakura asked.

Tsunade sighed and said, "He'd massacred everyone in Magentosa."

"He…!" Sakura exclaimed, not being able to link 'Naruto' and 'Massacre' together."

Hinata though, could. She asked, "What were they doing?"

Tsunade sighed and said, "Who knows? All that the team found was that they were all in the village's shrine. The team thinks that he found them in the midst of some rite or ritual that he didn't like the look of and decided that either the best, or the only, solution was the decimation of the village's people. Given that it is in the land of rivers, and their alliances with the lands of Rain, Grass, Birds and Bears, and our relative strengths at this time, the team think that he…"

"Sacrificed himself," Hinata said, a tear running down her right cheek. She slowly stood up and walked out of the room and left the Hokage Tower, walking towards the home that had finally been revealed was Naruto's inheritance. She only got halfway before her knees fell out from her and she fell into the wooden bench that was on the side of the street. She held her head in her hands and just let the tears fall.

Just after Hinata had left the office, Tsunade looked at her apprentice and asked, "Sakura, what…" surprised at Hinata's reaction to the news.

Sakura sighed and said, "She's pregnant."

"She's…" Tsunade said, feeling her stomach drop. She sighed and said, "Maybe I should have had Shikamaru or Shino deliver the news then."

"No, I think that there was no way that she could have received the news and _not_ have reacted any differently."

"I suppose so," Tsunade said, heaving another sigh as she leant back in her chair. She interlocked her fingers and rested her head back on them and said, "What am I going to about this now?"

"About Naruto?"

"No. About Hinata."

Sakura said, "She's stronger than you think."

Tsunade sighed and said, "I sure hope so Sakura," Tsunade sighed and quietly said, "for all our sakes."

XXXXXXX

A/N

Okay, first things first. I came up with this idea before the whole Fourth Shinobi War Arc, so whilst I am including it, I will be disregarding certain things that happened in it, like Sasuke and Naruto receiving power from Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki. Also, to add a bit more realism to my story, Sasuke will not have been forgiven for everything he's done, however he was pardoned in so much as he wasn't sent to prison for attacking the Kage meeting and kidnapping Killer Bee, however he is still considered an international criminal due to his joining the Akatsuki whilst they were on their whole 'capture the bijū to destroy the world' plan. Also, I've always thought that the idea of magnet release using earth and wind natured chakras is ridiculous, so I shall be using earth and lightning component natures.

Terms

Daemon: Unclean spirit(Greek)

Honden: Sanctuary

Haiden: Hall of worship


	2. Shinobi

The very next town that Naruto reached after slaughtering the residents of Magentosa, Naruto went to the towns hospital and hired a nursemaid that was willing to travel with him to help care for Eriko. She had red hair and blue eyes and habitually wore tight green pants and a garish pink midriff baring long-sleeved shirt. Her name was Amara. While Naruto didn't particularly care for the shirt, she was doing a very good job in taking care of Eriko, so when she broached the subject of permanent lodgings, Naruto listened to her.

A few weeks later they had a place in a town in the Land of Fang to settle down in. The town had a militia led by an exiled samurai from the Land of Iron. He joined, learning the art of the sword from the samurai, who realised that he had received shinobi training of a high level and had soon caught up to the samurai's other apprentice, who was five years older that Naruto and had been training under the samurai for the past two years. The two quickly became friends over their children, who were all about the same age, having just been given to him by his sister, who had died in childbirth.

XXXXX

9 years later, Naruto had set up a profitable business providing the daimyō's guards with seals for various functions, from barriers when on the road, to light seals to see during the night; a concept that he had come up with using a variation of an exploding tag.

One night, Eriko was having problems going to sleep, so Naruto, who now went by the name 'Setsuna', said, "Tell you what Eri, if I tell you a story, do you think that you would go to sleep faster?" as he still had a long way to go to fill the latest order of light seals, which the daimyō had had installed in place of the torches that had been lighting his castle.

"I don't know. But why not give it a try?"

"Alright. Let's see now…" Setsuna said as he tried to come up with something to tell her. He thought, ' _Well, I suppose it can't hurt…_ ' and said, "Once upon a time, there was an ninja that wa…"

"What's a ninja?" Eriko interrupted.

"There are many answers to that, depending on who you ask. But at the very least, they are people that have the ability to fight."

"Like you?"

Setsuna played with his collar before answering, "I…uh…suppose so…" thinking, ' _Once._ '

"Why do they fight?"

"Like the last question, there are a lot of answers. Some say that they fight because they are ordered to; some, simply because they can. Others are just deranged, power hungry, maniacs." He thought, ' _Like Sasuke._ ' "But if you ask me? I'd say that they fight to protect that which they hold dear to them."

"Ninja's are awesome!" Eriko commented.

Setsuna smiled and said, "I'm glad you think so. But enough of that, or didn't you want that story?"

"No no! I want it!" Eriko said, desperate to hear the end of the story.

At the same time Setsuna knew that there was no way that his daughter would get to sleep without his finishing it. He said, "Alright then. As I said, once upon a time there was a ninja…"

"What was his name?"

"I'm getting to that. His name was Naruto."

"Come on dad, I know you like ramen 'n' all, but calling someone _that_?"

"Then no story for you," Setsuna said, hurt by his daughter dissing the name that he was born with.

"On second thought, Naruto's fine," Eriko quickly said.

"Good. Now, the people in the town that Naruto lived in didn't like him very much."

"Why?"

"Because the day he was born happened to coincide with one of the greatest tragedies that most of the people in the village had ever experienced. So he was a constant reminder of that."

"But…that's stupid."

"I agr…wait! Where did you hear that word?"

"Alastair called Adele that when they were learning from uncle Ivan the other day. It was kind of strange though."

"Why's that?"

"Because, almost immediately afterwards I heard this strange 'thwack' sound almost immediately afterwards."

"I see. Well, it's not a good word to use to describe a person."

"Alright," Eriko said, taking her father's words to heart.

"For future reference Eri…"

"Yes?"

"Idiot means the same thing."

"Then why are you telling me?"

"Because it is better to be able to avoid words that can hurt others. However, if there is no other option available, then it is better to know what they mean."

"Alright."

"Anyway, back to the story. This young boy…when he was about your age really…heard about ninja and what they could do, and did, wanted to become one. To do that, he went through the training system that the village that he lived in had, but he was ignored by almost every sensei that they had teaching him and the other members of his class. All except for the sensei that was assigned to the class for his final year in the academy. We'll call him Iruka. Unfortunately, fitting five years of training into one is impossible, and by that point young Naruto had lost all faith in those that tried to call themselves sensei. So he failed the final test to become a ninja."

"If he failed to…"

"I'm getting to that."

"Oh."

"The afternoon that he failed, young Naruto sat by himself staring longingly at the kids that had graduated being picked up by their parents as he had no one to go home to but an empty apartment. But, just as he was about to give up on his dream, one of his sensei came up to him and told him about an alternative exam that could be taken."

"Really?" Eriko asked.

"Yes."

"That was lucky."

"Indeed it was," Setsuna said, thinking, ' _At the time._ ' "The alternative exam was that he had to acquire an item from the most secure building in the village."

"Really? What was it?"

"It was a scroll that had many ninja techniques on it. But getting it was only the first part of the test. The second part was that he had to get it to a certain location and learn one of the techniques by a certain time."

"Wow! Did he mana…well, he must have if he got to be a ninja."

"He did indeed manage it. He learned an advanced version of the jutsu that he failed the exam on, which was a Bunshin jutsu.

"Bunshin?"

"It means a man-made duplicate of something, or, in this case, some _one_."

"Oh? So how did he make a Bunshin of himself?"

"He used the chakra within himself to create a physical copy of himself. Which is quite a feat given the problems that he had controlling his chakra."

"What's chakra?"

"What's chakra? Hmm…it's a bit difficult for me to explain. Chakra is…an energy that exists within all things."

"Even in me?"

"Yes," Naruto laughed, "even in you. Through training people can learn to harness the energy within themselves in order to perform feats that would be otherwise been impossible."

"Cool," Eriko said. She thought, ' _Maybe I could use this chakra thing to see._ '

" _That_ is what they call ninjutsu. Anyway…after Naruto learned the jutsu, the good teacher, Iruka, found him and yelled, 'What are you doing!?' Somehow managing to double the size of his head as he did." Setsuna thought, ' _Maybe it was a jutsu_.' "Naruto explained to iruka-sensei what the test encompassed and how he'd passed. To his utter dismay though, Naruto was told that there _was_ no alternative test."

"But I thought that that other sensei said that there was?"

"Yes. But it turns out that the other sensei was a traitor to the village."

"What is a traitor?"

"A traitor is a bad person that goes against everything that the country that he belongs to believes and joins up with another party to do some really bad stuff."

"Okay."

"To cut a long story short, Naruto used the technique that he'd learned to beat the traitor Mizuki in order to protect iruka when he was about to be killed."

"Cool, so what happened after that?"

"Naruto graduated from the academy and became one of his village's most stalwart defenders. But those stories can wait for another time. Now, go to sleep."

"Oyaji…"

"Yes Eri?"

"Can I be a ninja?"

"Can you be a…" Naruto sighed and said, "Good night Eri," and left her room.

XXXXX

A week later, while theywere having breakfast, Setsuna said, "Hey Eri."

"Yes Dad?"

"Do you remember when you asked me if you could be a ninja?"

"Well, ye-eahh. I _was_ only last week."

"Yah. Well, I was doing some thinking an I think that I've come up with a way for you to be a ninja…well…it's a theory at any rate."

"Really!?" Eri eagerly piped up. "You're the best. So, what is it?"

"First off, there are a few things that you need to be aware of." Setsuna paused to let his daughter speak. When she didn't, he continued, "There is this thing called chakra."

"Yeah. You told me about that in your stories about Naruto. It's a source of power that exists in all living things, right?"

"That's right; and the first thing that you are going to need to know is how to control it."

"Seriously?!" Eriko exclaimed, having wanted to do little else ever since she had heard of it.

"Yeah. We can start your training after breakfast if you want."

"Alright…Oh! Bryn and Adele said that they'd be interested too."

Seriously?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yeah. They thought that Naruto was cool and…well…they've always wanted to follow their dad's footsteps and protect the village too. So…"

"Hmm…" Naruto sighed and said, "I'll have to talk to their father about it, but if he says that it's alright, then I've got no problems with it." Setsuna thought, ' _Though I'd say that Bryn is more interested in protecting Eri than he is the village._ ' He said, "There are two ways that we can go about this."

" _Two_ ways? What do you mean?"

"Either we try and get you ready before I talk to their father, sparing them the disappointment, or we start you all together."

"Hmm…" Eriko said, thinking on her father's words. She said, "Even if this idea of your fails, I'd like you to train them anyway.""

Naruto raised an eyebrow and asked, "What about you?"

"It's what _they_ want. If _I_ can't, then at least _they_ can."

"I see," Setsuna said, smiling wistfully, thinking, ' _Even if we aren't related by blood, she's so similar to me that it's almost scary._ ' He said, "Alright, then I'll talk to Alexei when we're done."

Eriko smiled, her face lighting up. She said, "Thanks dad!"

' _Yep, so much it's scary._ '

"After they were done, Setsuna went to speak to Alexei and was told that his kids had been pestering him about it since they had first heard the name 'Naruto'. He told Setsuna to make sure that his kids would be alright. With that done, Adele and Bryn followed Setsuna back to his house, where Eriko was waiting for them in the backyard. When they were all together, Setsuna said, "Right, normally there are a number of theoretical aspects that you'd learn first, but I'm no good with that stuff, so I'll just start with what's what. Eri, Alexei told me that you told Adele and Bryn about Naruto. 

"Yeah. Why? Was I not supposed to?"

"No no. Nothing like that. Did you also tell them about chakra?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so I can skip that part. First off, you all have a…I suppose 'wellspring' would best describe it…within you, and a system that carries it all throughout your body. To become full-fledged ninja, you will need to be able to access that wellspring at will, then, when you can access it, you need to be able to control it."

Adele asked, "So how do we do that?"

"That'll come in time. For now, just focus on gaining access to it. Now," Naruto said, sitting down cross-legged, surprising Adele and Bryn as they could swear that they didn't see him move. "Sit down." All three children sat as instructed. He said, "Place your hands together loosely with your thumb touching your middle finger," and waited until all three had imitated his position. Once they had, he continued, "Now, close your eyes and focus on a point deep within yourself."

Her eyes closed, Adele asked, "Like in your foot?"

Setsuna grinned, "No," thinking that he had probably made the same joke at some point. "Physiologically speaking, it will be just above your stomach. But for the purposes of this exercise, just a point within will do, since in the end, that 'point within' will be just above your stomach anyway."

Adele closed her eyes and frowned harder and harder as the seconds ticked by, sweat starting to roll down her face. It didn't take long for her to open her eyes and scream, "Aargh!"

Setsuna sighed and said, "I suppose that you want an example, don't you Adele?"

"Well…it wouldn't hurt."

"Alright then," Setsuna said, pulling Bryn out of his daze. "First, you close your eyes," Setsuna, closing his as he did so. "Then you find the point within…" envisioning himself standing before a blue fire in his minds eye. Then he reached out to it and it consumed him. "Then you reach out and pull it out," Naruto said, his chakra flaring up around him, startling Adele and Bryn, at the sight as much ass the fact that it could be done at all.

Eriko was somewhat confused, but not because of what her father was doing, but by the feelings that it invoked within her. Feelings of both fear and warmth. She decided to deal with _them_ later, instead focusing on the current issue; accessing her chakra.

By the week's end, all three of Setsuna's students, though he still had troubles thinking of them as such, had managed to access their chakra, though Emiko had managed it in less than five hours, while it took Adele and Bryn another three days to get it. Even then, Adele took another three hours again. They spent the rest of the time making sure that they could all access it at will.

On the fifth day, Alexei came along with his children as they went to Setsuna's house, carrying four wrapped parcels, two of which were the same size whilst on of the others was wrapped in a much smaller package and the last, wrapped in mere cloth, was long and thin. When Adele asked, 'What's in the parcels dad?' as they were walking over, Alexei answered, "Just a commission," and kept walking.

When they got to Setsuna's place, the six foot blonde opened the door and was surprised to see his friend accompanying his students. He blinked in surprise before noticing the bundles in his arms and on his back. He exclaimed, "They're ready?!"

"Yeah," His friend grunted. "Ain't it obvious?"

"Yeah. It's just that I was kinda expecting it to take longer is all."

"Well, I didn't have any other orders to fill and you wanted two of the sets blunted, so they didn't take as long as the other two."

"Okay. Thanks a lot," Setsuna said, relieving his friend of his order.

"It's fine."

"What do I owe you?"

"This one's on the house."

"Seriously?!" Setsuna exclaimed, well aware how much of a tight-ass Alexei was when it came to payment for his services.

"Yeah. They _are_ for my kids after all. Besides, after all this time, you 'n' Emi are like family too."

Setsuna closed his eyes and let a warm feeling flow over him. He said, "Thanks. Tell youi what. When you make your next, proper, set for your kids, let me help."

"I'm not sure that you could. Smithing is a really involve…"

Alexei stopped talking as Naruto smiled and said, "No no. Not that. You see, I've tested a few new seals and by the tume comes I should have them perfected."

"Seals? What do they do?" Alexei asked, knowing how dangerous Setsuna's fūinjutsu could get.

"Oh, don't worry. It's nothing extravagant."

"Hmm…we'll see," Alexei said, knowing that his friend's definition of 'extravagant', was _vastly_ different to his own. He sighed and said, "Well, if that's all?"

"Yeah," Setsuna said, "unless you want to watch."

"Hmm…maybe later. According tom y kids, you've not actually done anything that they wouldn't learn when they joined the watch."

"Yeah. Well that's about to change. Trust me," Setsuna grinned and shut the door in Alexei's face, causing Adele and Bryn to hold their laughter in, and a confused expression to fall over his daughter's face, not that he knew as Adele and Bryn had been about to leave the house, entering the backyard when they heard the last of their father's discussion with their sensei.

When Setsuna joined them he saw that they weren't sitting down as they had every other time in the past week. Instead, they were waiting to be told what to do. He asked, "Why aren't you sitting down?"

Bryn said, "Well, you told dad that we would be doing something different today, so we figured that it would save us some time if we were standing up already."

As Naruto was about to say something, Adele muttered, "You mean 'effort'."

Setsuna sighed and said, "Well, either way, you two will need to remain standing, though it's not as important for Eri."

"Why's that dad?" Eriko asked, not wanting to receive special treatment.

"Yeah. Why's that sensei?" Adele asked, well aware of her friend's concerns.

"I'm going to be training Eri in something a little…different…from the pair of you…just for a while."

"Something different? Why?" Bryn asked, wanting all three to be on the same, or a similar, level as each other.

"Calm down, calm down," Setsuna said. "I told Eri going in that this was a condition of my training the three of you."

"A…condition?" Adele said. " _What_ 'condition'?"

Setsuna looked at his daughter and said, "Eri, it's your decision."

Eri closed her eyes and thought for a second before she sighed and said, "Not now. I'll tell them when we are done."

"Either way?" Setsuna asked.

"Either way," Eriko affirmed.

"Well, alright then," Naruto shrugged and looked to the twins and said, "Well, it looks like you'll have to wait for your answer. For now though…" Setsuna made a handsign and said, "Kage Bunshin," creating a single clone and the two of them went back inside to retrieve three of the packages that Alexei had left with him, leaving Bryn and Adele with their jaws hanging open.

When the two Setsuna's came back, Bryn said, "Hey, hey…can you teach _us_ that?"

Naruto thought for a few seconds before shrugging. He said, "We'll see."

"What d'you mean 'we'll see'? It's a yes or no question!" Adele said, wanting to learn the jutsu so that she would have someone to help her with her hair.

C-Setsuna sighed and said, "This jutsu takes up a lot of chakra. You'll be learning a similar jutsu…hopefully."

" _Hopefully_? What do you mean by that?" Eriko asked.

"Well…you see…I can't use _that_ jutsu myself. But that can wait. For now, come with me," C-Setsuna said, as he walked a few metres away from Eriko and his creator. Bryn and Adele followed him.

Once they were gone, the original Setsuna said, "Right. Now it's just the two of us Eri."

"Okay. Great. Now, how am I supposed to 'see'?"

"Okay. There's a Kekkei Genkai called Jiton."

"Magnet Release?"

"Yes. It's composed of two different chakra natures mixed together."

"Chakra…natures?"

"That's right. You remember the story about Naruto's wind training?"

"Yes."

"Well, wind was Naruto's affinity. It is one of the five elemental natures that chakra can take, along with lightning, earth, water and fire."

"Isn't that like the five great nations?"

"Yes, though I am unsure if there is any correlation. In any case, magnet release uses both earth and lightning natures."

"Okay. So how do I use them?"

"Ease up would you? I've not finished explaining exactly how Jiton will help you 'see' yet."

"Oh. Sorry," Eriko said, feeling her face get warm for some reason.

"It's fine," Setsuna laughingly said. "At any rate, just being able to use it won't by enough."

"Okay. Why's that?"

"Jiton, by itself, allows you to manipulate the magnetic fields of things that you touch, although high-level users can retain the ability to maintain control, even after they stop touching the object. With me so far?" Eri nodded. "Good. Now, while that's all well and good for a normal ninja, that _won't_ be enough for what _we_ want."

"What do you mean?"

"Everything in this world generates a magnetic field of some sort and I want you to be able to see and differentiate between them."

"You want me to..?" Eriko said, unable to continue.

"Yes. So, to that end, after you have completely mastered Jiton, you will need to channel it to your eyes to create a sort of dōjutsu."

"Eye Technique?"

"Yes. There are few that have existed in this world, and fewer still that can use them to their full potential."

"Seriously!?" Eriko exclaimed.

"Yes."

"Can you use one dad?"

"No. thought it would have helped me out a lot if I could a few times. The important thing is though, that I can't use Jiton myself, so the method for _that_ , I'm afraid you'll need to discover on your own."

"I see," Eriko said, kind of disappointed, both that she wouldn't be able to do the same as her father, and that it would take her even more time for her to join her friends in their training, if they weren't done by the time anyway.

"So, first up, learning how to manipulate raiton chakra."

Meanwhile, Naruto's clone had handed _his_ students a set of blunt kunai…well…blunt-ish…and told them to throw them at one of the many trees in Naruto's backyard and gave them pointers on what they were doing wrong and how to correct them."

XXXXXXX

A/N

Terms

Jiton: Magnet Release – The main series identifies this as consisting of earth and wind elemental natures. However, I believe that it makes more sense if it uses both earth and lightning natures to gain its effects, so I shall be going with that.

Doton: Earth Release – One of the basic elemental nature transformation techniques and allows the user to manipulate the surrounding earth for offensive and defensive purposes or create it; be it dirt, mud, or rock. Earth Release techniques have the ability to change the strength and composition of the earth from being as hard as metal to as soft as clay. This includes allowing the user to travel through ground and rock in various ways which can be essential for both transportation and for setting up attacks or creating defences or for offence.

Raiton: Lightning Release – One of the five basic elemental nature transformation techniques that allows the user to generate lightning by increasing the high frequency vibrations of their chakra, allowing for piercing damage and fast movement. While uncommon, lightning can be infused into bladed weapons for increased piercing power through vibrations, with the added effect of inducing numbness.

Dōjutsu: Eye technique – Ninja abilities that utilise the eyes, a by-product of specific Kekkei Genkai or Kekkei Mōra. The word refers to both the eyes themselves, which have a number of passive abilities, and any jutsu dependent on the eyes to be performed.

Blunt-ish Kunai – For me, I can't see any sensible adult trusting primary school students with sharp blades, so in this story they have 'practice kunai', which have a rounded edge and point. That said, they are still pointy enough to easily pierce into a target, such as a straw simulacrum or a tree.

Shuriken: They have yet to start on shuriken because, number one, Alexei doesn't have a blueprint for them yet, and due to their shape, it is far easier to cut oneself with them than something with a handle/hilt. That said, they will get them in the future, just not yet.


	3. Training Method

A/N

I will try to answer any and all questions in reviews at the start of each chapter, so here goes…

Guest

It was only a small town of two to three hundred people, however the only 'children' were in their mid to late teens, so were still largely under their parents' thumbs. On top of which, the town had had that priest basically running things for so long that they were suffering religious zealotry on his behalf. As such, in no way, shape or form, would they have left a 'possessed' child be taken away. In their minds, they were trying to save Naruto, and all those he cared about, from being possessed as well.

XXXXXXX

When the twins had started to hit their target more times than not, and eri was starting to produce sparks in her hands, Setsuna stopped them. He said, "Alright. I think that it's about time that we had a break from all of that."

"Sensei?" Adele said questioningly, having only known her friend's father to be determined and focused on achieving whatever goal he'd set for himself.

"Yes Adele?" Naruto said, a questioning lilt to his voice.

Adele paused for a couple of seconds before saying, "No offence, but…why?"

"Setsuna said, "I believe that it was you that wanted to learn how to use the Kage Bunshin jutsu, wasn't it, Adele?"

"It was. Then…" Setsuna nodded silently, causing Adele to pump her hand in victory.

Setsuna smiled, thinking, ' _I wonder why she's so eager to learn the Kage Bunshin jutsu…actually, on second thoughts, it's probably better left unknown._ ' He said, "Now, first things first. Make the tiger seal that I showed you last week." The three pre-genin formed the seal. "Now, this is the first step of casting a ninjutsu. The handseals. It May seem tedious, but in the beginning, when you start to learn a jutsu, it is easier to use the handseals for that jutsu because they aid in the manipulation of the flow of your chakra within your body and use that as a power source for your jutsu."

"What about when you create a new jutsu?" Adele asked, getting concerned about the training that her sensei was making her friend do.

"Ah. _That_ ," Setsuna said, "is really a matter of trial and error. But, by and large, it will retain the seals used in its base form and then include elemental manipulation specific seals within. That said, there's no need to concern yourself with that just yet," completely missing the point of Adele's question. Adele pouted and forced water into her eyes as the started to quiver. Setsuna smiled and said, "Sorry Adele, that's not going to work on _me_." Adele stuck out her bottom lip as she 'humpfed', and crossed her arms, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. "Now, the seal used in the creation of Shadow Clones is a bit different to the seals used in other jutsu. For this, all you need to do is cross the middle and index fingers of both of your hands and then generate chakra for it and channel it into the jutsu. Before you do though, know that this jutsu is very chakra intensive, so don't be disappointed if, number one, you don't get it first go, and, number two, if you don't make many clone with it. That said, when you do make a clone, I want you to stop and we'll be done for the day."

"Why?" Bryn asked.

"Because, Bryn, I want to find out how much chakra the three of you have when you are completely fresh."

"Why does that matter?"

"Because, depending on the answer, the things that I train you in will be vastly different," Setsuna said. When he was finished answering Bryn, he thought, ' _Even if I do say that though, I already know what I need to teach Eri_. _The only ones that will be affected by the outcome will be the two of them. Well, that said, I still haven't quite worked out all of the kinks in the Kigaihiken that she's going to need._ ' The three were at it for the rest of the day, and the day after that until they got it halfway through the third. Setsuna sighed in relief, having been starting to get bored with just sitting back and watching them fail. He still have them the next two days off so that they could recover all of the chakra that they had expended before undergoing his 'test'.

When they did take the test, Eriko managed to make twenty one clones, Bryn, only five. The one that shined though, was Adele, who managed to make forty five clones. When he saw how many Adele could make, Bryn fell to his knees, losing all of the colour in his body as he thought, ' _She made…while I made…that's…but why!?_ '

Setsuna saw that Bryn was about to run off in despair and sighed as he said, "Bryn."

"Yes…sensei…" Bryn said looking up at Setsuna.

"There is absolutely _nothing_ wrong with only being able to make five clones. Quite frankly, even making five clones should be impossible for anyone that hasn't already been using their chakra for years."

"But then…"

"There _is_ a reason for what happened."

"What is it?" Bryn asked, hoping for a silver lining of some sort.

"Eri can already use one elemental style of chakra, so she already has some level of control over her chakra, and Adele naturally possesses a level of chakra similar to mine when I was your age. There _are_ methods that can be used to increase ones chakra, but even then, there is a limit to how high it can ago."

Adele hesitantly asked, "Why did you have us do this sensei?" not wanting Bryn to hate her for something completely out of their control.

Setsuna said, "Because, Adele, there are certain jutsu that can only be used by those with a very high level of chakra. If anyone with a lower level of chakra attempts to use those techniques, then they run the risk of burning out their chakra systems, or, in extreme cases, death. I didn't want to try to teach any of you any jutsu that you wouldn't be able to handle. Oh! Not that I thing it will, but if the thought that because you have more chakra means that you can do everything and anything, forget it. Having a larger base capacity can come in use later on, but learning jutsu that need smaller amounts or finer control, forget it. They are completely beyond you Adele."

"Like what, sensei?" Bryn asked, glad to learn that there was a branch of jutsu available to _him_ that wasn't for his sister.

"There're things like genjutsu and medical ninjutsu that you can learn. Unfortunately, like I said, _I_ can't use them myself, so we'll have to see about getting you some jutsu scrolls for that." Setsuna thought, ' _Although…I suppose that I_ could _ask Gamagen'ei about giving him some lessons.'_ "Now, rack off…" Naruto nodded through the door of his house, "…the three of you, you're done for the day."

"Why?" Eri asked, looking up at her father.

"I _did_ tell you that you were going to have the n0065gf

As they left Setsuna thought, ' _although, come to think of it, Gamazen'yu might be better. I'm pretty sure that_ he _can use genjutsu too._ '

XXXXX

About five minutes later, Bryn and Adele were clashing blades against each other while Eri sat on the veranda and listened on. They were using a pair of training swords that their father had made using some spare metal that he had lying around. Adele was using a standard straight-blade wakizashi that the town's militia used, while Bryn was using a shan dha, though they were both wielding them with both hands. Eri sighed as she could feel the nervous energy coming from her friends, as they practiced their swordsmanship. Hearing Eriko sigh, Alexei sat down next to her and asked, "Why aren't you over there with them?"

Eriko sarcastically said, "Yeah…blind girl with a sharp object designed to kill. Great combination there."

Alexei had to force the smile from his face as he took full note of what Eriko's words meant. He said, "Then…Setsuna hasn't given it to you yet?"

"Dad hasn't… _what_ hasn't he given me?" Eriko said to Alexei, just shy of demanding the information from him.

Alexei sighed and said, "When your father came and asked me to make some practice shinobi tools for Bryn and Adele, he asked me to make some real ones for him, and a staff for you. I've no idea why he hasn't given it to you yet, but I've never known him to do something without one."

Eriko sighed and said, "Maybe he's saving it for when I'm finished with my current training."

"Speaking of which, what _are_ you learning?"

Eriko sighed and said, "Right now I'm learning to change my chakra to lightning."

" _Really!?_ " Alexei asked, thinking, ' _Talk about throwing her in the deep end Setsuna.'_ He asked, "Why are you learning that _now_? Normally nature manipulation comes _much_ later."

"He wants me to craft a jutsu that will let me visualise magnetic fields. My being trained is contingent upon that."

"You know that that can take a really long time, right?"

"Yes," Eriko said. "What's your point?"

Alexei sighed and thought, ' _As stubborn as her father._ ' He said, "Well, in that case, why don't _I_ teach you how to use a staff now?"

"But that would go against my deal with Dad!" Eriko said.

"Look," Alexei grinned. "Your father is all about making use of every loophole that he can find Eri. If _I_ teach you, how to use it, then how is it reneging on your deal with your father?"

"Hmm…" Eriko said, considering Alexei's point. She said, "You know what? You're right. Sure. I'd like that." A smile found its way on to her face as she thought, ' _I'll teach you to keep something from_ me _Oyaji!_ "

XXXXX

Meanwhile, Setsuna had left the village entirely and was fighting against three of his clones. One was using gōken, another, frog kata and the last was using his normal taijutsu style. He was using the kigaihiken that he was developing while in sage mode, though he wasn't using it to empower his strikes, merely making use of the sensory capabilities granted to a sage. His clones were in sage mode too, it being the only way that they could keep up with their creator. But, like Setsuna himself, they weren't using all of their sage abilities. Even so, Setsuna was getting his arse well and truly kicked by his clones and started to let elements of his normal taijutsu style creep into their battle, which, strangely, actually completed the style and, even though he wasn't beating his clones, he was no longer losing against them.

They kept at it for about another hour before sage mode had finally run its course and collapsed against four separate trees. They looked at each other and started to laugh and Setsuna said, "Thanks you three. It's good to _finally_ get _that_ over and done with."

"One of the clones said, "So, what's up next boss?"

"Next?" Setsuna asked.

"Yeah," Clone number two said. "How long do we get to use you as a punching bag?"

Setsuna glared at his second clone out of the side of his eyes and said, "If you want to stick around, I'd cut that out if I were you."

"Urk!" the clone choked out. "Sorry boss! I…"

"It's fine," Setsuna tiredly said. "Now I'll have to get rid of you and then remake you to go at it again, this time not in sage mode, after which we'll need to work on some forms for the style."

"Fair enough boss," clone number one said.

Clone two said, "It's great that we've almost got Eri's taijutsu down, but what about Adele and Bryn?"

"Frankly, because of who their father is, I'd say that it's more likely that they will become weapon users, so there'll be no great need for them to learn taijutsu. Although…I suppose that I probably should anyway, just to be on the safe side. Especially until Eri gains full control over her Jiton."

XXXXXXX

 **A/N**

 **Terms**

 **Attacks**

 _Kigaihiken (Strong Spirit Toad Fist)_

A taijutsu style specifically created for Eriko. It uses frog kata as a base and then uses the principles of gōken to cover the weakness of the blows, due to Eriko not being a sage. The completed style has Eriko sensing the opponent through their magnetic field, and then attacking that position. Naruto was emulating the effects that he hopes that Eriko's jiton will allow her access to by using Sage Mode.


End file.
